The retirement of Alex Taylor Part 2

Alex sat at his desk and grabbed his mobile out his pocket, it only took him a second to find the number he was looking for and a second for it to get picked up.

“Alex, how are you?” Philippe asked “I think I can guess what this call is about.”

“I’m good thanks, and probably not. I recall you saying that you were looking to find a new house for your family that was a bit bigger. Well I have found the perfect one for you with only one issue. It is in Cologne so the commute would be a killer for you.” Alex paused before continuing. “Of course I guess I could help with the commute issue if you wanted me to. I do know of a job that is about to be vacant and have the inside track on appointing the replacement.”

Philippe chuckled “How coincidental, I’m not sure if I fancy a move to Germany that much though.”

“Well your wages would be doubled and you would be paying less tax on them. Keep that in mind before deciding. You never know as well whoever they appoint could bring in their own person and you’d be out of a job.”

“Fine, I’ll join you then” Philippe conceded

“Wonderful, I’ll have Rudi get in touch with you about wages and such and the club will buy out your contract at Brugge. Oh and I need you here tomorrow for when the players arrive.”

There were some final pleasantries and Alex turned to looking squad that he had inherited. It was a very young squad with only three players in their thirties and all of them back up players. The squad contained a number of very good players but, some really stood out.



Javier Hernandez stood out the most. The only player Alex had played against he would now manage. The Mexican poacher had been lethal in his first season in Germany and keeping him fit and scoring would make Alex’s life a lot easier. He wasn’t the best all round player but, had a great nose for the goal and would hopefully feature frequently.



Lars Bender added steel to the midfield with defensive quality and was also very good with the ball. He would be a perfect player to anchor the midfield for Alex and would be able to break up attacks well hopefully.



Leno would be the number one and that was undisputed. The 24 year old goalkeeper was a very good one and Alex planned to hold onto him for as long as possible. He had seen some incredible saves he had pulled off in highlights and hoped he could produce for him.



Jonathan Tah was a 20 year old CB who looked to be a star for the future. In Germany’s Euro 2016 squad and a key player for Leverkusen the sky looked to be the limit for him and Alex would have Philippe work with him and planned to have Tah reach his potential at the club.



Tricky winger Karim Bellerabi would also play a big role in giving Hernandez good service and Alex hoped he could also chip in more goals than last season where he only managed six. Double digits would be his target as well as some assists.



Alex was about to have a look at the youth prospects when he was interrupted by a knock on the door. Rudi Voller popped in to say that everything was done and Philippe was Alex’s number 2 again.

Smart thinking from Alex to bring Phillipe with him. Sure it'll be nice to see a familiar face among the crowd.

Very smart move and youve inherited a very strong squad! Will be interesting to see where you can go with it!

I thought that was coming, I won't deny it

Lippo Think it should work out, although hopefully he will be in the dugout and not the crowd

MGriff Yeah it is a really good squad if really unbalanced, tons of attacking players not so many defenders

ScottT Well if you see a nice house for a friend you just have to help them

With the knowledge that Philippe was coming pleasing Alex he had a look at some of the younger prospects. Tah was the stand out currently, although he was in no way alone in being a young player at the club who could be a superstar of the future.



Benjamin Henrichs had moved up to the senior squad over the summer. His ability to play almost any position it seemed would help him get some playing time, given the lack of right backs in the squad Alex had pencilled him in for the number one spot their and unless he had a poor preseason the position was his to lose. Alex had high hopes for him from the report and his performances could have a big impact on the season ahead.



Julian Brandt was very well known but, still only twenty and with a lot of time left to improve. Due to Leverkusen having an abundance of attacking players he would have to perform well to keep his spot. He had undoubted ability and Alex hoped to help him improve further and turn into a world beater, first though he would have to be a starter.



From the youth team Kai Havertz was the big prospect from the youth academy. He was on the cusp of being ready for the first team so Ale decided to have him with the first team for pre season and then use that to figure out where he would spend the start of the season and evaluate from there. A playmaking midfielder he needed some polishing but, could become a very good player and Alex hoped to give him a handful of games by the end of the season.



Atakan Akkaynak was at about the same level and Kai and also a central midfielder, although he was more defensive minded. Alex had the same plan for him as Kai and figured that the two players could be a key part of the team for years to come, especially if he could get them some first team action.

Having looked at the entire Alex felt that it was very young and only Hernandez had ever won some trophies so worried they might crack under the pressure of big moments. With not a lot of money though Alex would be limited in who he could pick. A glance at some online gossip worked out in his favour as he saw a name being linked with another club, and the more he thought about it the more it made sense to Alex.

He called Rudi through to his office to tell him of his plan. Voller was a fan of it and said he would instantly get onto the agent. The only issue was that the team he was linked to was a Premier League one that would inevitably be able to offer more money that Leverkusen could stump up. The only hope was that being an ex player he would feel a connection to the club that would lead to him joining.

Alex got the call from Voller a couple of hours later. “Berbatov is interested and we have offered a deal that he will consider along with some others.”

Ooh, Berba & Hernandez up top? Mouth watering!

Kind of reminds me of a side another notable Alex used to manage. Bit of a nobody though so you've probably never heard of him

Lippo Not signed him yet, can't think of who the other Alex is but, they could only ever be the second best manager with the name

The players and Philippe were both due in and Alex was waiting on the arrival of the latter. Philippe arrived and after a minute of catching up they were heading to meet all the players.

Alex had always hated long introductory speeches from managers as a player so decided to keep it short and simple. “I’m the new manager here, Alex Taylor and I think we can have a good season and want us to qualify automatically for the Group Stage of the Champions League next year and be well clear of fourth place. Okay?”



The players all seemed to nod and mumble in agreement so Alex took it as a sign they all agreed with him. “Great lets head out and practice then.”



The team finished practice and everyone headed to the airport as they were going to a training camp in Austria. Alex brought along first team players and some youth team players to have a look at all of them.

Alex and Philippe looked through the squad list deciding who they wanted to keep and who they wanted to sell. With only one year left on his deal and not wanting to sign a new one combining with him not being very good Alex planned to sell Robbie Kruse. With plans to start Henrichs Alex also felt that Hilbert was surplus to requirements and Philippe agreed so he was added to the sell list. Other than that Alex was happy with his squad and just had a couple of younger players who he would like to loan out.

The plane landed in Vienna and the team made their way to the hotel. On the ride to the hotel Alex texted Rudi who he wanted sold, he would have called but didn’t want to be overheard by anyone.



The next morning just after breakfast Alex got a call from Voller. An offer from Monaco had been negotiated for Kruse and Alex decided it was good enough so went to go find Kruse to tell him the news.

With an hour to go before practice Alex and Philippe had to plan some tactics to try over pre-season and pick one to take into the season. With all the attacking players that the team had Alex had to go with an attacking formation.



A 4-4-2 would allow the use of two strikers and wingers to attack which was good and the central midfielders could be more defensive or offensive depending on who they were playing. The main issue with the tactic for Alex was that it would make it hard to use the very talented Hakan Calhanoglu which would also have an impact on their ability to take advantage of set pieces without his deliveries.



A 3-5-2 was also very attacking and would concede some control of the wings for the ability to dominate the midfield. Philippe wasn’t a fan of it as he felt it was to attacking and didn’t like three at the back. Alex was inclined to agree however, with a lack of proven quality and left and right back he wanted the team to have a formation without them in it just in case he wanted to play with only centre backs in defence.



For Europe and Bayern Alex wanted to have a more defensive minded formation so went for the 4-2-3-1 that had served him so well in Brugge. It would only be used for big games where Leverkusen were the underdogs.

With three formations planned out Alex and Philippe set about planning practices to include training in all of the formations until the players were proficient in them.

With that handled Alex moved onto his final task of the morning. He signed in three places and initialled in another before a few others did the same thing and it was official.



Atakan Akkaynak had a new three year deal at the club. As his current one ran out at the end of the season one of Alex’s first tasks was to get him a new deal signed and he was pleased to have ticked it off so early in the pre-season.

Lars Bender as an Advanced Forward is a novel idea, as is Hernandez at fullback Looks good though, hopefully Calhanoglu can find a place in the side

Hernandez is bae <3 can't wait to see him bag shit tonnes

PatrickLFC All the tactical innovators are seen as crazy in the beginning. Fortunately Calhanoglu seems able to play as a striker very well and is alright as a CM.

Atoobie Love him as well, part of the reason I chose Leverkusen over Everton

Calhanoglu has scored a lot of goals for me on the beta, fitting him in is a must if you ask me man!

Mgriff Yeah got a good front line but, if I could get him into it it would be a lot better

Alex was pleased to win his first game 1-0, pre-season is all about fitness however, he was still pleased to seal the win in a tight game with a goal from Chicarito just after the hour mark.



The second friendly exposed the lack of fitness with the team fading late to concede an equaliser. Kruse scored in what Alex hoped would be his final game for Leverkusen. The two games had led Alex to deciding to go for a 4-4-2 as the team looked nervous in any other formation and were far more used to the 4-4-2 leading to them playing better in it.



After the game Alex got some good news. Sven, the team doctor had signed off on the medical of Dimitar Berbatov and the Bulgarian was officially back at Leverkusen. The obligatory photo of signing the contract and holding up the shirt were taken and sent out as the signing was announced.

Alex was pleased to have gotten his man especially as he was sure Everton would have offered him more money. The relaxed Bulgarian, who was only three goals of being the third top scorer in the teams history, then left the press conference to go and find a muffin.

Ignoring the diet choices of his striker Alex was pleased with the deal, and now wanted a muffin as well. Berbatov was a winner and had experience in a number of big leagues and in big games which Alex thought would be a huge boost to the team as if they came close to winning something he wanted to have a player or two who had done it before. As he was still a favourite with the fans as well from his last spell it made Berbatov the perfect choice to go for him.



Alex was pleased with the next game as they recorded a good 4-1 win with the young Finnish striker Pohjanpalo netting two goals and looking impressive. He was less pleased with how his pun had gone down. “What a Finnish” He had gone for after the second goal.

“Yes it was.” A coach agreed with him.

Alex then had to explain the pun on him scoring a goal with a good finish and him being from Finland and therefore being Finnish and they sounded the same. It got an “Oh”.

Other than that it had been a good game. The only concern was Kruse went off injured but, he was fine and passed his medical at Monaco allowing Alex to get rid of him and bring some cash in to replace him. A slight concern was again conceding a late goal, although the match was over at that point Alex didn’t want it to be a habit.



Kruse officially left on the Monday and with some extra money that he could use Alex decided to get Sulley Muntari, on trial.



Alex wanted some combative midfielders to counter the lack of players in midfield and that was a role that Muntari had done very well at numerous clubs, although after spending some time collecting rather large pay checks in Saudi Arabia Alex wanted to make sure he hadn’t let himself get lazy and wouldn’t be the same player.



He trained well so Alex gave him a run out in the next friendly where they recorded a comfortable win to end the tour of Austria. It was a good game and Muntari played well enough and had trained well enough to convince Alex to get Voller to try and negotiate a deal with his agent.

After all the players had got on the bus they headed to the airport to head for a pre-season tour of America that was a marketing move done purely to take advantage of having Chicarito and taking advantage of his marketability in America to boost the knowledge of the club and try to get them fans in a rich emerging market for football.

It was a long flight and at the airport Alex went searching for some muffins to eat for it as the team headed off for part two of their pre-season.